whirlpool
A whirlpool is a vortex, a spinning body of water around a central point. Whirlpools can vary from tiny eddy currents in a stream to huge tidal flows powerful enough to swamp small boats. Most of us have our first experience with whirlpools looking at water going down the sink, however this is not how most whirlpools in nature work. When the drain is opened, all of the water tries to flow down the sink at the same time, while air in the drain tries to push up to equalize the pressure. The water begins to spin and form into a stable vortex–the water flows down, spinning along the sides of the vortex while air flows back up through the center.
Read more: How Does a Whirlpool Work?
So what if you are diving and encounter a massive whirlpool? hang on you are in for a ride. Digging into the archives of google, I did find that 3 years ago a group of divers might have really well experienced such a strange phenomenon. Experienced diver Virginia Hatter and her group descended into the blue of La Jolla cove in San Diego at 5 A.M for an underwater photography and cave exploration session. Before they knew it Hatter and her group were caught in something they had never experienced before.
“I’ll be the first to admit, yeah, I was scared,” Hatter said. “I saw like a swirling action. It seemed like water and sand.. I used the term ‘underwater tornado’,” she said.
At some 80 feet deep they all started to get sucked into a vortex that wanted to suck them out at sea and into the deep. They caught on a rocky reef hanging for their dear life and eventualy made it out. Here is the full story.
And underwater how does it look like one might ask?
